The present invention relates to a method for the removal of mercury and/or other related metals selected from the group consisting of cadmium, zinc, copper, gold, platinum, palladium and nickel, from a liquid medium, using to do so an insoluble composition of which the active metal binding component comprises a residue of cysteine.
Due to the toxic nature of mercury, it is extremely important to be able to reduce to a minimum the amount discharged to the environment in liquid medium. Sources of such potential polluting media are numerous; they include, for example, the depleted brine solution obtained from the manufacture of chlorine and caustic soda by electrolysis of brine using mercury as a cathode.
It is also important economically to recover or separate from a liquid solution valuable metals such as Cd, Zn, Cu, Ag, Au, Pt, Pd or Ni.